Commission issues its opinion on units 3 and
4 of the Slovak Nuclear Power Plant of Mochovce

The Commission has issued today its opinion on the
project of Slovenské Elektrárne to complete Units 3 and 4 of Mochovce
Nuclear Power Plant in the Slovak Republic, according to the requirements of
articles 41 to 44 of the Euratom Treaty. Those requirements state that any new
investment related to nuclear activities has to be communicated to the
Commission which should, in return, send its views to the Member State
concerned.

During the notification procedure under the Euratom Treaty the Commission has
held extensive discussions with the nuclear operator. The Commission concluded
that, provided that the Commission's recommendations are implemented, the
aspects of the investment in question are in line with the objectives of the
Euratom Treaty.

Related to the special design of the Mochovce NPP, the Commission Viewpoint
focuses in particular on the safety and security aspects.

In this regard, even though the project shows compliance with the current
national regulations of the Slovak Republic as well as international
recommendations, the Commission based its assessment on the best practice
available and recommended a set of additional measures. This is due to the fact
that the VVER 440/V213 reactors proposed by the investor do not have 'full
containment' structure which is used in the most recent construction of nuclear
power plants planned or under way in Europe.

The Commission considered that an equivalent level of protection as the one
provided by a 'full containment' has to be ensured. In particular, the
Commission recommended that the Investor – in close collaboration with the
national authorities - "evaluates and implements additional features, functional
capabilities and management strategies to withstand a potential deterministic
impact from an external source (e.g. a malevolent small aircraft impact) into
the design basis of the proposed investment, bringing the design in line with
the existing best practices".

Furthermore, the Commission stresses the importance of diversification of
supply sources under the aspect of secure supply of nuclear fuel for the whole
EU nuclear industry as well as a correct management of decommissioning funds, in
line with its
recommendation[1].

The Commission will closely follow up on the development of the nuclear
industrial activities related to the Mochovce investment project also in the
future, notably its safety and security aspects.

Technical Background of the project

According to the notification received, the units 3 and 4 are pressurised
water reactors with a power capacity of 440 MWe. The two units which will
provide a total installed electrical power of 880 MW, type VVER 440/V213 of
Russian Design. Commissioning of the 2 units is expected for 2012-2013. The
amount to be invested is around 1.6 billion EUR.